25th of April – On this day in History –

1915 –78,000 ANZAC troops land at Gallipoli

We thought we would share this recipe with you. We intend to celebrate this important day in Australian history with a batch of these wonderful biscuits.

ANZAC BISCUITS

Ingredients

Preheat oven to 170°C. Place the flour, oats, sugar and coconut in a large bowl and stir to combine. In a small saucepan place the golden syrup and butter and stir over low heat until the butter has fully melted. Mix the bicarb soda with 1 1/2 tablespoons water and add to the golden syrup mixture. It will bubble whilst you are stirring together so remove from the heat. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix together until fully combined. Roll tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls and place on baking trays lined with non stick baking paper, pressing down on the tops to flatten slightly. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

1 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup caster sugar

3/4 cup desiccated coconut

2 tablespoons golden syrup or treacle

150g unsalted butter, chopped

1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda

Method

Preheat oven to 170°C. Place the flour, oats, sugar and coconut in a large bowl and stir to combine.

In a small saucepan place the golden syrup and butter and stir over low heat until the butter has fully melted.

Mix the bicarb soda with 1 1/2 tablespoons water and add to the golden syrup mixture. It will bubble whilst you are stirring together so remove from the heat.

Pour into the dry ingredients and mix together until fully combined.

Roll tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls and place on baking trays lined with non stick baking paper, pressing down on the tops to flatten slightly.

They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.

Today, Phinee and I got up early and got ready to take the drive into Hobart to attend the ANZAC Day Dawn service that the Cenotaph. Tata stayed home with Nik who has been sick lately. In the lead up to today we have talked about ANZAC Day and what it stands for. We have explored our own family history and connection to the ANZACs as well as spent a lot of time learning about the ‘spirit of the ANZACs’ and completing work based around this important day in Australia’s History.

Hobart Cenotaph – Dawn Service Gathering

We will remember them -Family members who served in the Australian Armed Forces.

I saw a kid marchin’ with medals on his chest.
He marched alongside Diggers marching six abreast.
He knew that it was ANZAC Day – he walked along with pride.
He did his best to keep in step with the Diggers by his side.

And when the march was over the kid was rather tired.
A Digger said “Whose medals, son?” to which the kid replied:
“They belong to daddy, but he did not come back.
He died up in New Guinea on a lonely jungle track”.

The kid looked rather sad then and a tear came to his eye.
The Digger said “Don’t cry my son and I will tell you why.
Your daddy marched with us today – all the blooming way.
We Diggers know that he was there – it’s like that on ANZAC Day”.

The kid looked rather puzzled and didn’t understand,
But the Digger went on talking and started to wave his hand.
“For this great land we live in, there’s a price we have to pay
For we all love fun and merriment in this country where we live.
The price was that some soldier his precious life must give.

For you to go to school my lad and worship God at will,
Someone had to pay the price so the Diggers paid the bill.
Your daddy died for us my son – for all things good and true.
I wonder if you understand the things I’ve said to you”.

The kid looked up at the Digger – just for a little while
And with a changed expression, said, with a lovely smile:
“I know my dad marched here today – this is ANZAC Day.
I know he did. I know he did, all the bloomin’ way”.

Well here we are… Where has all the time gone? I can’t believe that Easter is already over and we are already in the fourth month of the year. I find it amazing just how quickly the first half of a year seems to fly by, while the second have usually seems to take forever to be over.

Over the last few weeks we have been working solidly on Australian History. We seem to have changed our focus, from studying the convict era, to learning more about the early aboriginals and early settlement. We have been very fortunate to find a wonderful array of books and workbooks that are available for our use. The availability of these has allowed em to pick and choose what we learn about again, without requiring me to write all the work myself.

Usually I would write most of the work for the children myself, devising what we will learn about and how we will learn it, but since I am now working part time, I have decided to take a load of myself, by trying to find worksheets that reflect our learning wants and needs, and using them instead of having to create them all myself. This new system seems to be working for the moment. I certainly seem to be achieving more freedom with my time and the girls are still receiving a well balanced program. This situation also still leaves me with time to write the work I wish the children to learn when I am unable to find worksheets that reflect our educational goals as well as utilise other resources when available. The best of both worlds at this stage I imagine.

So what exactly have we been learning about? One of the things we have been focusing on is Successful Australians, the first one we have been researching is Douglas Mawson (1882 – 1958). This has been a very fun person to look into. JAHG has created a time line of Douglas Mawson and his achievement / important times throughout his life, as well as read a lot of information about him and his Antarctic adventures. JAHG’s next learning curve about Douglas Mawson and Antarctica is to complete the following brief: (This has been slightly adapted from the R.I.C. Publication ‘Successful Australians’ by Sandy Strumer to meet our own specific learning needs.)

Plan an expedition to explore an uncharted Polar Region

Choose a destination for you to explore within the Polar Region.

Grab a map of this region or create one yourself.

Decide on the length of time and the number of participants in your expedition

Envisage yourself as the following people and complete the tasks as detailed below:

Navigator – Plan the Route for the expedition and plot the destination on your map. Research and decide on what kind of transport you will require if any, where you will stay what kind of accommodation you will require.

Equipment Supervisor – List all the equipment that will be necessary for a safe expedition. Clothing, utensils and don’t forget what might be required for the unexpected! It is your responsibility to ensure all the equipment needs for the expedition are met. Things to consider. Transport, accommodation, clothing, documenting research and so much more are a few of the things your expedition group will be doing.

Cook – Create a workable list of food and cooking items required for the expedition. Remember to consider things such as the weather, easy of carrying, healthy options, energy requirements when making the list. It is also important to understand how you might cook the food if required as you will need to carry any equipment required for cooking and this could be heavy!

Photographer – Your task is to document the visual aspects of the expedition. This can be done via photography, collage, drawings in fact any art form you choose!

Expedition Bloggist – You are required to record all the information related to the expedition and create a blog about the adventure. This blog should detail the route taken, provide maps, detailed lists of equipment, food and also diary extracts detailing the actual Journey.